Losing Faith
by AminalLuv
Summary: COMPLETE: Faith learns of her destiny and with the help of her Watcher, Patsy, must begin battling all of the demons that plague her life.
1. Wandering

Title: Losing Faith

Summary: Faith learns of her destiny and with the help of her first watcher must battle the many demons in her life.

Disclaimer: I don't own Faith, which is kind of OK because I like my pets loyal and besides, I see her as a shedder.

----

It was just past dark as she hurried along the unfriendly streets of Boston. She knew it wasn't safe to be out alone at that hour, especially in this area, but that didn't stop her. She had always been a risk taker, if you could call it that. It wasn't really a risk after all, if you had nothing to lose. She had often felt that way. She was barely sixteen years old, yet she had been through more pain than most people should have to deal with in an entire lifetime.  
  
Her father had left when she was five. For the first couple of years afterwards, she had received birthday and Christmas cards from "him." Funny; how they were always in her mother's handwriting. Even at that young age she knew. But soon the cards stopped all together. Another funny coincidence; the cards had stopped right around the time her mother's alcoholism got out of control.  
  
Faith's mother had always been one to enjoy a glass or two of wine with her dinner but after her husband had left her she had broken out the hard stuff; Brandy was her favorite drink. For a while she still managed to lead a somewhat normal life, being a mother to Faith and staying on at her job as a secretary at a respectable, if not prestigious law firm. But after a while the nightly drunkenness caught up with her, she began missing work, and eventually got fired. Who needed a job anyhow? She had secured a good amount of money in the divorce proceedings and if nothing else could be said about Faith's father, he always paid his alimony on time. So there was enough money for alcohol, at least for the moment.  
  
Faith shivered and wrapped her worn and tattered jacket tighter around her. She continued walking. She usually went to the gym at night; it helped her escape. Her days were often long an unpleasant and it caused this uncontrollable energy to build up inside her. Sometimes she felt like she would just...pop; sometimes she did. It wasn't uncommon for her to get into trouble at school for starting fights. Her mother's boyfriends never seemed to mind, she was "frisky," they would tell her.  
  
They had been at her since she was ten. She would never forget the first time, lying in her bed, hearing her mother's giggles in the next room as she often did through the thin walls of their new place. The giggling finally stopped and she knew her mother had passed out. Usually that's when the men left and Faith could finally fall asleep. As usual she heard her mother's boyfriend get up and leave the room. Only this time instead of leaving the apartment he opened her door. She wanted to scream, but in her heart she new it was useless, her mother wouldn't be conscious again for hours and the neighbors, well, nobody cared much in this neighborhood. She may not have screamed, but she fought, she kicked and threw her tiny balled up fists at his chest, but she was only ten, and he was so big. And finally it was over and he just left. Eventually she had stopped fighting them, she had just given in. It was better that way; they usually enjoyed it more if she struggled, anyhow.  
  
She stopped and looked up at the sign, she was there. She was glad. She could forget the pain, at least for a little while.


	2. Freaky

Faith threw a roundhouse kick at the punching bag, not that she knew that was what the move was called. She'd never had any formal fight training but she had spent so much time in this place that she had just picked it up.  
  
Right jab, left uppercut, another roundhouse kick. She was consumed now, totally focused on her enemy. The moves came quickly and fluently, like a dance. Beads of sweat rolled down her face and a few strands of hair fell from her ponytail into her right eye, but she didn't notice or if she did, she didn't care. She wasn't about to stop and fix it; she was too at peace.  
  
"Hey there little lady." Asshole. Didn't he know not to interrupt somebody's workout? "I think you've successfully managed to slay that punching bag. Where'd you learn to fight like that?"  
  
Slay. Interesting use of words. Why did it ring in her head like that?  
  
"Just kind of picked it up." She continued throwing punches.  
  
"How long you been fighting?"  
  
"Since I was 12."  
  
"And you're how old now?"  
  
"Old enough to score you some major jail time." She said nonchalantly as she finally turned around to look at the man. He was pretty cute in that old guy kind of way, he must have been at least thirty. She could probably get a free meal out of him too. Her mother had spent the week's grocery money on alcohol again. "But I won't tell anyone that if you don't."  
  
"Sounds like a plan to me."  
  
"Why don't we go back to my place. There's a great burger place on the way and I'm always more...energetic when I'm full." Faith said seductively.  
  
"Sounds good." He grinned.  
  
Faith went over to the corner to grab her jacket. "Let's go."

----

Just as she had figured, her mother was still out at the bars. They would have privacy, not that her mother would care much to stop them if she had been thereshe wasn't exactly the poster mother for celibacy. Faith liked being alone though, probably because a part of her was ashamed but for the most part it wasn't so bad. Her stomach was full of the first time all week and that was more then she got out of the deal most of the time. Anyway, it wasn't like she was saving herself for anyone special; her mother's boyfriend had taken that privilege away from her all those years ago.  
  
Oldie threw her down on to the bed and began taking off her pants. Straight to the point this guy was. She was glad; she wanted it over with really. He climbed on top of her and began to unzip his pants. She could tell he was hard already; this wouldn't take long. But suddenly she felt as though "not long" wasn't good enough. She was dizzy and nauseous and she couldn't stand to go through with it at all.  
  
"Get off." She mumbled. 

"No!" The man went to remove her shirt.

"Get off!" Faith repeated sternly.  
  
"Who the hell do you think you are?" He growled, propping himself up over her on his hands and knees "I didn't buy you dinner for nothing. I'm getting what I came here to get." The man shoved himself down onto her.  
  
"I said, 'get off.'" She said again and this time she shoved him away. He went flying across the room.  
  
"What the fuck?" he cried. "What the hell are you on?" Faith wasn't sure. In all her years of saying no, trying to shove men off of her she'd never been able to do anything about it. She was strong from her nightly trips to the gym, yeah, but not that strong. And she hadn't only pushed him off of her; she'd pushed him clear across the room.  
  
"Psycho." He mumbled under his breath as he zipped up his jeans but it was obvious as he fled the room that he was just plain scared.  
  
Faith waited a few moments to make sure he was gone before she pulled her shirt back on and left the room. She couldn't sleep now, not only because of the guy but because she was buzzed. Whatever had made her feel sick was gone now and she was left with this crazy energy just dying to get out, like she'd felt earlier at the gym only a hundred times stronger. She walked out into the cold air and wandered down the streets like she was looking for something, or someone, only she didn't know what.


	3. Scratch

Faith had gone to school the next day. She had too much energy to stay at home and there really wasn't much else to do. It was gym time anyhow which she always enjoyed, especially now that they were using the weight room.  
  
She went right to the punching bag as she always did. None of the other equipment really appealed to her, she had always been the kicking and punching type.  
  
Everything came so naturally to her; an instant after starting she was already in her own world. She didn't even notice that the skill she now possessed was far beyond what she had had just one day earlier, nor did she notice that the entire class had stopped to look at her. She couldn't help but notice, however, when the punching bag was ripped from its support in the ceiling and went sailing across the room.  
  
Faith stood silent for a moment, gaping at the emptiness air where the punching bag had just been, before registering that the bag had landed on another student. "Oh crap." She ran towards the boy lying, unmoving beneath the heavy bag. The teacher and another student were struggling to pick the bag up and free the injured boy. Faith approached and reached down to help lift the heavy piece of equipment. It moved easily, too easily. She flung the bag over her right shoulder as though it were nothing. The metal hook, however, got caught and ripped into the skin of her right hand.  
  
"Fuck!" The teacher didn't have time to reprimand Faith for her language; he needed to make sure his students were OK. The boy, Frank, had suffered a possible concussion and probably a cracked rib, and it was clear Faith would most likely need stitches. He turned to one of his students and ordered her to go get help.

Faith grabbed on of the white hand towels that were strategically placed around the room to wipe down the equipment. Blood was everywhere. She wrapped the cloth around her hand and used her left hand to apply pressure to the wound.

A few minutes later the nurse, Ms. Beasley, can running into the room. "The ambulance is on the way," she announced. She reached Faith first and bent down to take a look at the damage. Faith unwrapped the towel and presented her hand to the nurse.  
  
"Why that's nothing but a scratch, that won't need stitches at all." Ms. Beasley clicked her tongue and moved on to the next victim.  
  
"But I could have sworn it was worse." Faith looked down at the blood soaked towel she still held in her hands, it was almost completely red. "There's so much blood." Mostly to herself as Ms. Beasley was already half way to Frank.


	4. One Girl

She was wandering senselessly down the darkened streets, almost as though she was hunting something. She'd had this feeling ever since the previous night, with that guy; the feeling that she was supposed to be doing something. This was normally the time that she would head to the gym but after what had happened in phys ed... Faith looked down at her hand; fresh, pink flesh covered the injury sight. She had never healed that quickly before.

What the hell was going on with her? It was like she was on some strange high. Had that guy put something in her food? But why would he slip her something that would make her stronger? He never got what he wanted and if he had slipped her some drug than it was the drug that was responsible for her not going through with things.  
  
Faith's thoughts were suddenly interrupted. A strange man jumped out of the side street and attacked her. Faith sent a right jab sailing up into his chin. The man recoiled but was back on her in an instant. He was fast, he was strong...and there was something weird going on with his face.  
  
"What do you want? I don't have any money." Faith protested.  
  
"Dinner!" He continued attacking her but Faith somehow managed to hold her own against her assailant.  
  
"I barely even have food for myself." She guffawed. Faith blocked his punch then kicked him in the gut.  
  
"Get out of here." A female voice with a British accent came from unexpectedly from behind her. "Run!"  
  
"Listen lady, I don't run from my problems, I prefer to beat the living crap out of them."  
  
"You don't what you're dealing with." The voice pleaded.  
  
"I don't care what I'm dealing with as long as I'm dealing with it." Faith said to the woman whom she now saw out of the corner of her eye. She was tall and thin, her blonde hair was pulled tightly back into a bun, she carried a leather brief case and wore a tweed suit.  
  
The tweed clad woman pulled a wooden stake from her brief case and prepared to attack. She'd never fought a vampire outside of controlled circumstances before but if she didn't do something this girl would wind up dead. But the woman stopped short. The girl wasn't going to die; she was winning. She was fighting with a skill the Brit had never seen before.  
  
"Miss Parker? Faith?" The Englishwoman asked skeptically.  
  
"That's my name, don't ware it out." Faith kneed her attacker in the stomach.  
  
"Catch this." The blonde tossed the stake Faith's way and Faith caught it mid air.  
  
"What do you want me to do with this? Poke his freaking eyes out?" Faith rolled her eyes.  
  
"The heart. Stick it through his heart." Faith didn't have time to argue with the woman. With one swift motion she impaled the man with the wooden stake.  
  
"Slayer?" He asked before exploding into a cloud of dust.  
  
Faith inhaled the ashes and she began to cough. When her fit subsided she turned to the woman and gestured toward the pile of debris and the stake that adorned the top of it. "Care to explain?"

----

"So Patsy, what's the 411. What's this top secret business that you couldn't tell me at the restaurant?" Faith sat curled up in a chair in the British woman's room at the local Holiday Inn. Faith wrapped her hands tightly around a Styrofoam cup filled with coffee. The woman had bought her some food at a dinner around the corner from the hotel and the coffee was all that remained.  
  
The woman scowled at Faith and corrected her. "I told you, my name is not Patsy. It is Patricia, but you should refer to me as Ms. Adams."

"Right, Patricia Francis Anne Rosalynne Adams," Faith said in a mock, stuffy, British accent. "What's with all the middle names anyhow?"  
  
"It's a tradition. But we're not here to talk about me, we're here to talk about you Faith. You're special."  
  
"Special as in special...ed?"  
  
"This is no laughing matter. You very nearly died out there tonight." Patricia paced back and forth in front of Faith.  
  
"Oh, puh-lease. I was totally wailing on that dude."  
  
"Faith, this is important, you have to listen to me." The Englishwoman stopped pacing and faced the girl.  
  
"I'm all ears Patsy." Patricia scowled again but let it slide this time.  
  
"In every generation there is a chosen one." She began. "She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness, she is the slayer."  
  
"Demons? So what you're saying is that dude was a...vampire. And that would make me this...slayer." Faith extrapolated.  
  
"Oh yes, exactly, I'm so relieved you understand. I was afraid..." Patsy was cut off.  
  
"Yah know Patsy, there's this methadone clinic right down the road. You might want to check it out cause whatever drugs you're on, they're not doing wonders for your sanity."  
  
"You don't believe... You were just mocking me. But how? How can you deny what's right there in front of you? How can you refuse to see the obvious?"  
  
"The only thing that's obvious to me is that you're INSANE . Vampire's are not real and I am not some 'slayer,'" Faith air quoted with one hand while continuing to hold the cup of coffee in the other, "and I should go now." Faith got up to leave.  
  
"You can't hide." Patsy said flatly. "They'll find you. That vampire was just the first. You're slayer now and they always find the slayer."  
  
Faith stopped but didn't turn around. "Why?"  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Why? Why me? Why was I 'chosen?'" Faith stood facing the door.  
  
"That's the way it has been since before time. One slayer dies another one is chosen. Usually we can find the girls who have potential, train them, sometimes we can't. The slayer has a certain energy surrounding her. It's how we found you. It's how that vampire found you. They're drawn to you're energy like a magnet, they don't know it, not consciously but they always find you. Anyhow, we traced you're energy to here in Boston. I was sent on the first flight out."  
  
Faith turned now. "So she died...last night, she died and...what? Left me her superpowers in her will? She dies and suddenly I get all dizzy and nauseous and boom, I'm super girl?"  
  
"Yes, one of the slayers died last night."  
  
"One? I thought you said there was only one."  
  
"Normally that is the case, only one of the slayers died a year ago. She was given CPR and revived but another had already been called. So you see now there are two slayers and you are one of them."  
  
"How old was she?" Faith cocked her head as she asked the question.  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"The girl...who died. How old was she?"  
  
"Sixteen."  
  
"My age then, she was my age."  
  
"Yes, a few month's your elder." Patsy sat down on the edge of the bed, relieved that she had gotten through to her charge.  
  
"So this gig... I'll die?"  
  
"We all die Faith." The watcher reminded her.  
  
"But I mean soon. I'll die soon."  
  
"I'm afraid so. But if you don't do this Faith, you'll most likely die even sooner, and the whole world with you." Patsy crossed her legs at the ankles.  
  
"But I get to kick butt, I get to go out there and wail on these dudes and be some kind of super hero?"  
  
"Well, crudely put, yes."  
  
"I guess I could live with that. Fighting the good fight and all. Doing what I do best and saving the world while I'm at it. Doesn't seem so bad."  
  
"It's what you were built for Faith, it's what you were made for. Accept it, it is your destiny,"  
  
Faith sat back down. "What do I do?"


	5. Moving Forward

"All right Faith…I think…that's enough…for the moment…Why don't you…get some...water?" Patsy sat sprawled out on the floor gasping for air.  
  
Faith gulped some water from her bottle before speaking. "You're just embarrassed cause I kicked your butt."   
  
"Am not."  
  
"Are too."  
  
"Am not."  
  
"Are too."  
  
"Am…Faith stop these childish games. You have a very important duty and you never seem to take it seriously. I honestly don't understand." Patsy began to stand up.  
  
"What do you want me to take seriously? Staying holed up in this god-forsaken place kicking your butt? Like you're some great menace to society. How do you expect me to take it seriously when you never let me do anything? How many times in this past months since I've been slayer have you even let me go out and kill anything?"   
  
"You're not ready Faith. You have no sense of responsibility and if you go out there you will get killed."  
  
"That's the drill though isn't it? I fight, I die, another slayer's called. Ready or not I'm slayer now and I'm not doing my job if I'm not slaying anything."  
  
"It's good that you're excited about your destiny, that you want to slay, but you can take it too far Faith. This bloodlust that you have is dangerous. In slaying it's important to control your emotions."  
  
"In slaying I'm fighting evil demon scum, emotions are pretty much a given."  
  
"I know you've had a hard life Faith, but that's in the past. You're a new girl now, it's one of the reasons we took the course of action that we did. You need to separate yourself from what was and concentrate on what is, and that is being slayer."  
  
Faith didn't let the sadness that she was feeling show. Her face hardened like stone. There wasn't any use in crying, when had tears ever saved her?  
  
"She's still my mother you know."  
  
"I know Faith but getting her admitted to that hospital, it's not only what was best for you it was best for her as well. She's a very ill woman."  
  
"I know, but…what if she's lonely? She was never a very good mother, but she's all I got."  
  
"You've got me now Faith. I'm not your mother, and I won't attempt to be one."  
  
"Well actually you kinda are in the sense that you're my foster mom." The council had pulled strings to allow Patsy to become Faith's official guardian but Patsy decided not to entertain Faith's comment at the moment, true as it may be.  
  
"I won't shower you with affection like in some fairy tail, it's not appropriate in a watcher/slayer relationship. There are some things I can give you though. I will pay attention to you. I will teach you, I will help you grow. Those are the things she was never able to do for you."  
  
"Does that mean I get to patrol tonight?" Faith with filled with fire again, with excitement.  
  
Patsy paused for a moment trying to hide the smile she felt creeping across her face. Faith was so spontaneous, so full of energy, sometimes Patricia couldn't help but admire her. Reluctantly the watcher gave in. "I suppose."  
  
"Franklin Park?" Faith knew she was pressing her luck but she did seem to be on a roll."  
  
"The cemetery." Patsy said sternly, there was no room for any more negotiation. "If you show good technique and form fighting the newly risen vampires then we will consider moving on to a more formidable foe.  
  
"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's scadaddle." Faith was out the door in an instant with Patsy chasing after her calling for her to slow down. 


	6. Fighting Faith

Faith was trading blows with a tall, lanky vamp. If she could just get a clear shot at his heart. She knew it would come eventually but she could sense the other vampire approaching from behind her. She had to move the fight so that she could keep a clear view of both her enemies. Faith dove to the right tumbling over a tombstone and landing right back on her feet.  
  
"Nice moves slayer." The vampire who had been lurking behind her commented.  
  
"Wish I could say the same for your face."  
  
"Aren't we the witty one?" Vamp one said.  
  
"Well, I'm witty, you're just a house wife's nightmare waiting to happen."  
  
"Kakistos will enjoy her when we bring him her bruised and bleeding body." Vamp one said to his counterpart.  
  
"The only bruised and bleeding body in this bunch is Patsy's and she's staying with me." Faith glanced at her watcher cowering behind a nearby tombstone.  
  
"He'll keep sending us until we've captured you. He's dying for the blood of a slayer, well he would be if he weren't alr…"  
  
"Oh shut up." Faith retracted the stack she had plunged into the first vampires heart and watched him turn to dust.  
  
"Even if you kill me…"   
  
"If?" Faith asked the second vamp as she plunged her stake at him and turned him to ashes. Faith brushed the dust from her leather pants and turned toward her watcher.  
  
"Very good Faith. I'm quite impressed. Now we must go find out more about this master vampire, this, Kakistos." Patsy came trotting up to Faith showing no hint of the terror she had been feeling a moment before.  
  
"Research, yippee." Faith said in a droll voice as she followed the excited watcher out of the cemetery. 


	7. Letting go of the Past

"Ok, I'm gonna jet." Faith slammed the book she was reading shut.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Go, leave, vamoose, scadaddle, get out of here…"  
  
"You will do nothing of the sort. We need to find out about Kakistos and you need to stay here and keep researching." Faith and Patsy were in the watchers apartment surrounded by a collection of old, musty books scattered all over the kitchen table.  
  
"Cause I'm always of so much help looking in books that are written in languages I've never even heard of before. Anyhow, I'm the slayer it's my job to kick the crap out of demons, not to research them."  
  
"It's your job to fight demons and you can't do that if you don't understand them."  
  
"Well then I'll go out and slay something and you stay here and research and when I get back you can tell me everything I need to know to 'understand' these supernatural forces of darkness." Faith threw her jacket on and walked towards the door of Patsy's apartment.  
  
"Faith! Faith, come back here right this instant, I dem..." But Faith was already out the door and Patsy knew it was helpless to chase after the girl.  
  
  
"Excuse me Miss, can I help you?" A nurse asked Faith. She was standing in the hallway of the hospital.  
  
Faith wanted to say yes, she could use all the help she could get but it wasn't the kind of help this nurse could give her so Faith just replied with a polite, "No thank you."  
  
This was the first time Faith had been to see her mother since she had been admitted. Faith had thought about it before but she'd never been able to get away from Patsy for long enough. That woman kept an eye on Faith like a hawk.  
  
Faith looked at the door she was standing by again, "Jane Parker" still the right room, so why couldn't she get herself to go in? She faced demons and monsters everyday how hard could her mother be to handle? She could do this.  
  
Faith walked into the room. Her mother was lying in the bed facing the opposite wall.  
  
"Mom?" Faith asked.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"To see you."  
  
"You haven't wanted to see me in months. Isn't that why you put me in here? So you wouldn't have to see me any more?  
  
"I got you admitted here because you're sick. You drunk you're whole life away, and your liver went with it. I love you mom, I do but..."  
  
"I'm not your mother anymore. Remember they gave custody to that woman, the one who had you put me here in the first place."  
  
"Mom, please don't do this."  
  
"Do what? Abandon you like you abandoned me? You're nothing to me Faith, you never were." Faith starred at her mother in disbelief for a moment. But she had meant what she'd said, Faith could see it on her face, and she couldn't take it. Faith turned and ran from the room.   
  
Faith stopped as soon as she got out of the hospital and leaned up against the wall. Her breathing was labored. It wasn't from the run; Faith almost never got tired anymore, so why couldn't she breathe? The answer came in the form of a tear that escaped her left eye. She was crying. How could that be? She hadn't cried in years. Here she was, the strongest girl in the world, reduced to tears by a sick woman. Faith slid down the wall into a sitting position wrapped her arms around her knees and let the tears flow. 


	8. Learning a Lesson

The door to the apartment flew open and Patsy looked up to see Faith stomp into the room. It was about time, Patsy had so much to tell that girl.  
  
"So good of you to grace me with you presence." The watcher told her slayer the anger evident in her voice.  
  
"Did you find anything?" Faith asked coldly.  
  
"Why Faith, are you quite alright?" Patsy asked her voice now gentle and concerned.  
  
"Yeah, I'm just dandy."  
  
"You're sure?"  
  
"I said I was fine."  
  
"Well alright then, if you're sure there's nothing the matter, then I do have some revelations to share with you. I've discovered some key information about our Mr. Kakistos in one of the watchers diaries."  
  
"So who is this scum and how do I stake him?"  
  
"It's not that simple I'm afraid."  
  
"I'm the slayer, I'll make it that simple."  
  
"You don't understand Faith, Kakistos isn't like other vampires. He's older, more virile."  
  
"So he's an old vamp, big whoop."  
  
"Especially old vampires start to lose the little humanity they're left with. The demon takes over more and more of the person they once were. Kakistos is hardly a vampire anymore but rather an extraordinarily strong demon. Besides, he is presently residing in Missouri which is, by all accounts the one positive thing about him, he's from away from us."  
  
"Not for long cause we're going to Missouri. If Kakistos wants me so bad that he'd send his little henchmen across states to get me, well we wouldn't want to disappoint him."  
  
"You don't understand Faith. You're not ready for a fight like this. You'll get yourself killed or worse, somebody else."  
  
"I'm the slayer, I'm gonna die anyhow, and as for other people, well, how many will die if I don't get rid of this monster?"  
  
"I am your watcher and I am telling you to wait. I'm going to a watchers convention in England in a couple of week and I can find out more about Kakistos then. We'll train diligently until then and if when I get back I feel you're ready, then we will go."  
  
"I'm sick of waiting around for you to say I'm ready, and I'm sick of this god damned city. Since you obviously have no faith in me and my abilities than maybe I should just go without you." And at that Faith stormed from the apartment. 


	9. Migration

Patricia climbed out of her deteriorating 1989 Mitsubishi Galant. By deteriorating, of course, she meant that the paint was scratched and patchy in spots and the interior was worn right through in several areas, but the vehicle ran fine and that was all that was important to the Brit.  
  
She had expected to find Faith at the bus station and she had been correct. She had seen the young slayer sitting on the platform talking flirtatiously with a ruggedly attractive but much older man. Thus the watcher had parked her automobile and she now approached her charge.  
  
"Faith, please, stop this foolishness at once. You cannot just run off and take a bus to Missouri. You don't even know where he is residing. Missouri is quite a large state you realize.  
  
"I'll find him, and I'll kill 'im. The scumbag deserves to be obliterated and you won't help me so I guess this bus is my only option." Pasty glared at Faith and shifted her gaze to alert Faith to the bystanders all staring at the two women. The older woman guided her younger companion around the corner of the building to provide for more privacy.  
  
"What if I do…help you that is? If I agree to go with you will you come with me instead of taking this..this bus?"  
  
"Really!?" Faith asked excitedly.  
  
"I shall probably regret this, but yes, really. I am your watcher and since I can't stop you I suppose it is my duty to go with you."  
  
"Thanks Pats! You won't regret this, I promise. I'm gonna kick this demon dudes ass right back to hell!" Faith hugged her watcher eagerly.  
  
"Yes, well let's just hope you do." Patsy said resignedly as she led the fiery slayer towards the car.   
  
________________________________________________________________________  
  
  
"So where are we know?" Faith asked through the menu she was looking at. They had stopped at a diner for dinner.  
  
"Faith put the menu down when you talk to me. It muddles you voice and I can't read your lips."  
  
"Jeese, OK, OK." Faith lowered her menu. "I asked where we were."  
  
"We are in southern Ohio."  
  
"And where's Missouri?"  
  
"It's to the south west of us. It's just east of Kansas which is the geographical center of the country. Your country I might add. Don't they teach you anything in school these days. I'm from England and I know more about the States than you, a native born American."  
  
"I am not and Indain."  
  
"Not a Native American, Faith. A native born American, I mean that you were born here in the States."  
  
"Oh well yeah."  
  
The waitress approached the table. She pulled her pad from her apron and took a pencil from behind her right ear.  
  
"Have you guys decided?" She asked with a deep Midwestern accent.  
  
"Yes, I believe we have. I shall be having the chef salad with Italian dressing and a large glass of ice water. Faith?" the watcher glanced towards her slayer.  
  
"Double bacon cheese burger with cheese fries and a large coke." She told the waitress.  
  
"My God you do eat quite a bit don't you."   
  
"What can I say, slayin give a girl a major case of the munchies. Did you hear that?"  
  
"Hear what?"  
  
"A girl screamin' outside." Faith got up from the table and headed out of the restaurant. Patsy followed her.  
  
"Hey, what about your food?" The waitress called after them.  
  
"We'll be back, we …forgot something in the car." Patsy scurried out.  
  
"Well, isn't this novel, the big bad vampire picking on the poor defenseless woman, you guys really gotta get a new gig." Patsy followed the sound of Faith's voice around to the back of the building.  
  
"Why change a good thing?" The Brit rounded the corner just in time to see the vampire drop the woman he had been feeding on and approach Faith. Faith threw a roundhouse kick into the vampire's gut.   
  
"Doesn't seem so good now does it?" The vampire growled and lunged at Faith. She thrusted her stake into his chest.  
  
"Well that was anticlimactic." Faith commented as the vampire exploded into dust.  
  
Pasty came out from behind the corner of the building. "Very well done Faith, now let us go eat." The woman walked back towards the diner. 


	10. Gateway

Patsy and Faith were strolling along the streets of a mid-sized city.  There was a stray wino or two sitting on the sidewalk, passed out with their heads leaning awkwardly against the sides of buildings which were slightly smaller than the skyscrapers the slayer was used to back in Boston.  A few pieces of litter were scattered around, mostly near the bases of strategically located trash bins.

Faith turned slowly, in a circle, taking in the city; it was no Boston.  "So, uh…this is St. Louis?"  Patsy nodded.  "Wicked small for a big city.  Beats the rest of this state though, the entire place is like…original Hicksville.  So, is there…anything to do 'round this place?  What's that thing?"  Faith nodded her head and pointed in the direction of a large metal arch jutting upward into the sky.

"That's the Gateway Arch.  It's St. Louis' signature tourist attraction."  Patsy stopped walking and faced Faith.

"What's it do?"

"It doesn't do anything really, it's just to attract tourists."

"Neato!"  Faith did the sarcastic finger twirl.   "Why would some big archy thing that doesn't do anything attract tourists to this middle of nowhere city?"

"I'm not sure, I suppose maybe for the view from the top." 

"You mean you can go to the top of that thing.  It's like, wicked tall.  Let's go!"  Faith pulled Patsy in the direction of the arch.  "We could spit off the top and stuff."

Patsy sighed.  "We didn't come to enjoy the sites Faith, we have work to do.

"Oh come one.  What's an hour or two?  Please!!!!"  the young girl pleaded with her watcher.

"Faith!"  The older woman said sternly.

"Party pooper," Faith whined, but there was as smile on her face.  "So, then, back to business.  You think this Ka-killjoy dude's here in St. Louis?"  The pair resumed walking in their original direction.

"I honestly don't know where Kakistos is," Patsy emphasized the vampire's name rather than correcting her charge,  "but if he's somewhere in this state than this would be the best place to start looking.  The city library has a plethora of newspapers from the surrounding areas.  We'll begin by researching those."

"Wicked fun."  Faith rolled her eyes.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Six wooden tables occupied the center of the room, each surrounded by six chairs covered in worn and dirtied upholstery.  To the left of the door on the way into the room was a check-out desk behind which sat a young college aged student with long blonde hair pulled loosely back into a pony tail and a pair of think rimmed reading glasses.  On the right side of the room were a few rows of metal shelves stacked with periodicals covered in dust.  On the opposite end of the room was an ancient looking microfilm machine.

"This thing-a—ma-bob looks older than my dinosaur fossil collection," Faith tapped the machine from her position standing behind Patsy who was seated in a chair she had taken from one of the tables.

"You have a fossil collection?"  Patsy turned her attention away form the newspapers stored on microfilm.  The fact that Faith might be interested in anything at all was exciting news to the watcher.

"Pa-shaw!"  The exclamation came out almost as a giggle.  "The only people who collect dinosaur fossils are such geeks that even the losers think they're losers.  I was just making a point."

"Oh."  The disappointed Brit turned back to her microfilm.  She clicked on a button and the slide changed.

"Oooh!  There!"  Faith pointed excitedly to the screen.  "Serial Killer Leaves Victims Bloodless."  The brunette read the headline a little too loudly and excitedly.  The girl behind the desk looked up form the homework she had been doing and gave Faith a baffled stare before returning to her work.

Patsy continued reading the article in a hushed tone.  "Another victim of the recent series of murders was identified last night.  Jonathon Redifer was found with a slit throat and was drained of all his blood.  Redifer was the fourth victim in as many nights to be found in such a condition.  No clues as to the murderer's identity have been found.  Officials are advising everyone to remain in their homes or offices whenever possible and are imposing a mandatory curfew between the hours of dusk and dawn."

"Gentleman, it looks like we have a winner."  The Bostonian said to here British companion.

"Now Faith, let's not be hasty.  It is obvious to me that these murders are vampire related but there is no way we can tell if it's Kakistos of some lesser vampire."  Patsy looked up at Faith.

"It's him, I can feel it in my gut, that's the only proof I need.

Patsy sighed and turned back away from Faith.  It was pointless to argue with the slayer when her mind was made up and Patsy new it.  Anyhow, if a vampire was menacing the locals in some St. Louis suburb then it was there responsibility to stop it, no matter who the vampire was.  "Alright then…"  Patsy looked back at the microfilm and read the title of the newspaper, Freestorm Herald, "Freestom, Missouri, here we come."


	11. Freestorm

Freestorm was a fairly small town about an hours drive north of St. Louis. It had once been a coalmining town but the mines had long ago shut down. Most of the townspeople now worked in the city, making the commute everyday by the train that ran through town. There was a small motel about a block away from Main Street and the watcher and her slayer had gotten a room for the night.  
  
"Are you sure you're ready for this Faith?" Patsy paced back and forth down the narrow isle between the twin beds and the television set. She stopped and looked at Faith who was seated on the bed nearest the window idly, flipping through the pages of one of those teen fashion magazines.  
  
"Yes mother," she said sarcastically as she looked up at the watcher.  
  
"This is serious business; please don't take it lightly. It is all right if you don't go through with this. Think hard before you leave here tonight."  
  
"Patsy." Faith put the magazine down and looked straight into her watcher's eyes. "You been great to me. Really, you done more for me than anyone ever has in my whole life. You turned me into somebody. You don't want me going out there tonight. I get that. But I got a job to do. You gotta trust that I can do what you trained me to do." Faith looked away. She picked up her magazine and started fidgeting with it, rolling and unrolling it, flipping through pages. "God, look at me, all sentimental and shit."  
  
"You're an amazing girl Faith. If only you could see that you had more to offer this world than just death.  
  
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@  
  
She was walking through the darkness. She didn't know where she was going; she didn't have to. She would wind up in the right spot eventually. Her instincts were sharper than any animal's, all she had to do was follow them.  
  
There was the faintest hint of light up ahead. Not house lights, they were getting closer. Cop car, probably in search of curfew breakers like herself. She ducked around a corner until they had passed.  
  
She walked some more. The buildings were getting fewer and farther between and she knew she was getting closer. The buildings she did come across had long ago fallen into disrepair. She was almost out of town but not quite. It was still close enough that a tasty morsel might come driving by, perhaps have some car trouble, like maybe a horde of vampire's attacking it. And if no one did drive by it wasn't a far walk to that local demon take out haunt called Main Street. She knew this was it, she felt it, she felt him, and she was scared.  
  
"It's Patsy, it's like she's here right now yappin' about what a bad idea this is. She's in my head. I gotta keep it straight, gotta do my job, can't let her distract me," Faith squeezed her eyes shut and felt the cool night air wash over her skin. The hair on her arms prickled up and a shiver went down her spine. She inhaled the crisp night air and let it fill her lungs. As she exhaled she opened her eyes.  
  
She turned her head slowly to the right and then back to the left and then she stopped. Abandoned mine. Faith didn't know much about abandoned mines but it didn't take a genius or even a 5 year old to know that when mines have big wooden two by fours and a large sign that reads "KEEP OUT," that those wooden beams should probably be intact. There was no reason to suspect that it was anything more than some meddlesome kids, no reason except that she knew a particularly nasty vamp was hiding out in this town and she could feel his presence as though it were something tangible, wrapping itself around her, constricting her. She pushed through it and walked towards the mine.  
  
"Here goes nothing," she mumbled to herself. She picked up one of the large wooden beams and cracked it in half over her knee. She had brought stakes of her own with her of course but it never hurt to have a few extra. She set down the gym bag she had been carrying over her shoulder and unzipped it. She threw one half of the broken beam inside and kept the other piece out. She pulled out a cross and stuffed it securely in that small nook between the waistband of her pants and the small of her back. She stood back up and tossed the bag back over her shoulder. She left it unzipped so that when the time came she could easily get to her weapons and then she stepped one foot into the mine.  
  
"Have an extra stake for me?" came the voice from behind her.  
  
"You shouldn't be here."  
  
"I know I shouldn't, but you also know that I couldn't stay away."  
  
Faith reached into her bag and pulled out a stake. She extended her arm out behind her without even turning to look at Patsy. "Stay far away from the action. I fully expect to get my favorite stake back in one piece at the end of this. You're back up, get the weaker vamps, thin the heard a bit, don't take on more than you can handle."  
  
"Here goes nothing." The watcher echoed her charges words and the two women descended into the cold, abysmal dark of the mine. 


	12. The Darkness

"Faith?" The voice cut through the darkness and made it's way to Faith's ears in waves until the echoes finally died down and Faith let out her breath.  
  
"Shh! This way." Faith pointed her finger in front of her and to the left but the gesture was lost in the darkness, as was her finger, her hand, all of her in fact, and everything else as well. Patsy hadn't known such darkness could exist. It was the kind of darkness that made you think that eyes were trivial, on the face only for ornamental purposes. It was the kind of darkness that made you wonder of you even still existed, because you couldn't see the hair that fell over your face or the hand that brushed it away.  
  
"Which way?" But Faith wasn't sure anymore.  
  
"Hold on," if she stood still and held her breath the whole world was lost, no sight, no feeling, no sound, taste or smell. It was what she wanted, what she needed. Her senses didn't matter, it wasn't the outside world, it was what was already inside of her. There; she'd found her, standing directly behind her, a few feet away. Faith walked backwards for a few steps, reached out, grabbed Patsy's hand and pulled.  
  
"This way."  
  
"Are you sure Faith? It's awfully dark down here, even vampires wouldn't be able to function with out any light source at all."  
  
"I know what I'm doing. Now be quite before they hear us." The woman didn't respond and Faith knew that she understood. Patsy was a watcher, she had all the information on vampires that she could ever need on the surface but they were in the underworld now and here Faith was boss.  
  
They traveled in silence for a few minutes not knowing how far they had walked, where they had come from or where they were going.  
  
"Do you see that?" The slayer whispered.  
  
"I can't see anything Faith, there's no light."  
  
"That's what I meant. There is light, up ahead. We're there."  
  
The terror struck her then. She was sure her eyes were so wide that they could cut through the darkness that still invaded her sight; like in those cartoons Faith always watched in the mornings.  
  
"Common!" Faith began walking towards the light that only her slayer senses could see.  
  
"I...I don't..."  
  
"Sure, now ya get second thoughts. Little late, just hold this and stay back," Faith pulled the cross out from her waistband. "I'll take care of Ka- carrot-top."  
  
Patsy nodded her head and walked towards the light that was now faintly glimmering at the end of the tunnel.

They reached the opening to the cavern. Faith backed up to the wall, pulling Patsy back into the shadows with her. She stood there taking in the scene that lay before her. Candles, lots of them. She counted about five henchvamps, not as bad as she'd expected. And then there was Kakistos.  
  
He was sitting on a throne of stone that had naturally formed in the wall of the cave. He was so much worse than she had ever imagined. Patsy had tried to warn her, to prepare her for this but she hadn't listened, hadn't believed. He was gargantuan, seven feet tall at least. His face was in the permanently bumpy way of being and his hands and feet were cloven. Faith watched as he lifted his arm and pointed his hoof at something. Her gaze followed along his arm to the far wall. Humans, four of them. They were chained up and badly beaten. It was obvious that they had all been bitten already but they were still alive. It was as though he was using them as blood machines, never fully draining them so that they could always make him a meal for another day. To the side of the hostages was a large mud puddle, Three large alligators bathed in the pit.  
  
One of the henchvamps approached the hostages and began to unchain one, a boy about her age.  
  
"Are ya sure about him? He looks a little...sickly. Maybe you want something a little fresher?" Faith stepped out of the shadows into the open area.  
  
"The slayer I presume? No one else would be idiot enough to come down here."  
  
"What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment. Nice place ya got here. Like the candles," Faith reached out and grabbed a candle off of a large stand, "although I really don't think it's a good idea to be playing with fire when you're so combustible." She took the candle in her left hand and extended her arm. A vampire that had been trying to sneak up on her burst into flame and exploded into dust.  
  
"If it's punishment you crave, that can be arranged." Kakistos glanced around to the four remaining vampires and nodded his head. They surrounded her and slowly closed in.  
  
"Oh no, you've sent your lackeys after me. See me with the quaking," Faith mocked. She kicked her leg out to the right and sent a vampire sailing into the wall of the cavern. She dropped her bag to the ground and quickly bent down to pull out two stakes, one for each hand.  
  
"So, who's first in line to get shish-kabobed?" Faith looked around at her four attackers and singled out a gangly tow-headed vamp to the right of her. "Looks like blondie here wants first go." She approached her first victim and sent her foot crashing into his stomach. In the split second it took him to recover, she circled him so that she was on the other side of him and all four vampires were in her sight. She had to try to take on each opponent one by one but at the same time never forget about the others.  
  
She thrusted her stake at the flaxen vamp but he blocked her with his left arm and punched her in the stomach with his other. Faith flew backwards a couple of feet and landed with a thud on her butt. Her stakes fell from her hands and clattered beside her on the stone floor. Only one was in her reach. She grabbed it, jumped back up and approached her chosen opponent. A couple more blows were exchanged before the other lackeys began to close in on her again. She had to move the fight, to keep them separate.  
  
She kicked her chosen adversary with all her might sending him flying across the room. She charged past the others through the open spot Blondie's departure had allowed. She was on him in a second. He was still lying on his back and without a moment's pause, Faith sunk her stake into his heart. She didn't wait for him to explode before choosing her next opponent, but she could tell by the screechy, explosive sound behind her that he was dust.  
  
Next a vampire with a big nose approached her and mounted an attack. He jammed his fist into Faith's chin and her head went soaring backwards. The pain was excruciating. She was sure that if he had hit her any harder, her head would have fallen off completely. She didn't have time for pain though, so she ignored it and repeated the act on him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something then, gleaming on the ground. She glanced down and spotted her weapons bag right below her. "So, do you want the stake or what's behind curtain number three?" Big nose growled at her and lunged. She ducked and he went flying right over her head. "The curtain it is." She stood up and in her hand she held a large ax. She swung it and the vampire's head toppled to the ground and burst into dust mingling with the ashes from the coal.  
  
Two down, two to go. She scanned the room for the other henchman, but when she found them, she didn't attack. Her feet were planted solidly on the ground.  
  
"You didn't tell me you'd brought a guest, how very impolite of you." The vampires were standing in front of Kakistos each holding one of the watcher's arms.  
  
"Patsy!" Faith called out. "Get away from her."  
  
"But she looks so damn appetizing." Faith slowly began to move to the left so that Patsy no longer stood directly between her and Kakistos. "I said get away, and it might behoove you to learn that when I give orders I expect them to be followed." She raised the ax she held in her hand and sent it flying at Kakistos head. The weapon impaled itself in the vampire's face directly across his right eye. The vampire screamed in agony, tearing at his visage. He finally stopped screeching and pulled the ax from his eye.  
  
"You'll pay for that, bitch," he stood up and grabbed Patsy from the two remaining henchman. "Let her watch," he shoved Patsy up against the wall and pulled her skirt up above her waist. Patsy screamed in terror as Kakistos penetrated her. Faith stood, unable to move, unable to stop it. She wanted to, she tried to, but her feet wouldn't let her. He was still inside her as Faith watched him sink his teeth into Patsy's neck.  
  
As the two remaining vampires finally moved towards Faith the paralysis left her, but her feet didn't move towards Patsy, instead she stumbled backwards. She fell and crab walked a few steps before standing back up.  
  
She turned towards the exit of the cavern and ran, grabbing a torch as she fled back into the tunnels. She wasn't sure how long she ran before she dropped the torch. Faith heard it splash into a puddle and fizzle out. She ran blindly, not stopping as the darkness consumed her. 


End file.
